April 20, 2023

 

eniferBio raises US$12 million to make fungal protein from by-products of food and agricultural processes

 

 

Finnish biotech startup eniferBio has successfully raised an €11 million (US$12.1 million) series A funding round, the company announced on April 19.

 

The round was led by the Netherlands-based global aquaculture investment fund Aqua-Spark, along with Tesi (Finnish Industry Investment) and Valio, Voima Ventures and Nordic Foodtech VC also participating.

 

With the freshly raised funding, the company will begin to scale up the production of its PEKILO^® mycoprotein powder to thousands of tonnes per year and seek Novel Food approval from the European Union and other markets.

 

PEKILO^® is a fungus that, through a special fermentation process, can produce a dried powder rich in protein and has a vast variety of usage cases, such as pet food and aquafeed. The process was originally developed by forestry industry scientists in the 1960s in Finland to produce cost-efficient animal feed protein from side streams of the pulp and paper industry.

 

Using the same proprietary technology and fermentation process, eniferBio can upcycle by-products from diverse agri-, food- and forest industry processes into its PEKILO^® mycoprotein, which consists of up to 70% protein, 20–30% of good-quality fiber, about 10% of fats and minerals, and has a high concentration of vitamin B. The production process is efficient, uses very little water, doesn't require large land areas and does not cause eutrophication like traditional agriculture.

 

"We are extremely excited to have our new investors Aqua-Spark, Tesi and Valio join us on our mission to feed the world with sustainable protein," said Simo Ellilä, chief executive officer and cofounder of eniferBio. "Together, they put a huge amount of new sector-specific know-how and networks at our disposal. We're also glad to see our long-term backers Nordic Foodtech VC and Voima Ventures double down on their bets and show their continued support for our vision."

 

Aquaculture production has overtaken the wild fish catch and is the most rapidly expanding food production sector, requiring huge amounts of new high-quality protein feeds. Soy has become a common feed ingredient, with Brazilian soybean production increasing and estimated to reach 152 million tonnes in 2021/2022. By comparison, PEKILO^® mycoprotein has a lower carbon footprint than soybean, offering a sustainable alternative for the European market that is currently heavily reliant on imported soybeans.

 

"We are very excited to work with eniferBio to scale PEKILO^® as a positive ingredient in the sustainable aquaculture feed of the future," said Lissy Smit, CEO of Aqua-Spark. "Greening aquaculture feed by eliminating our reliance on wild ingredients and reducing our footprint is one of our biggest priorities in getting to a more sustainable aquaculture industry. EniferBio's alternative feed ingredient serves as a replacement for soy in aquafeed. It significantly reduces land and water usage. Furthermore, early trials suggest that it has the potential to improve growth performance and immune response in fish."

 

eniferBio already has ongoing partnerships with big global companies in the feed and food industries, such as Skretting, the global aquafeed division of Nutreco, Purina and Valio. Its next big phase includes developing products fit for consumers through collaboration with Valio, a brand leader in Finland and a major player in the international dairy ingredients market.

 

- eniferBio